High surfaces, which represent dead space, are commonly advantageously used for storage of objects of various different types. For example, rescue ladders and folding boats are often loaded on the top of firefighting vehicles and used to rescue people.
However, each time that objects are loaded onto or taken down from these high surfaces, it is necessary to go up to this high surface and pass the objects up and down, which is bothersome and may be dangerous.
In particular, when rescue ladders and boats are loaded on the top of a vehicle body, there is a problem in that they cannot be quickly unloaded, even if there is urgent need for their use.
Note that, lift devices can also be used for loading and unloading objects, but conventional lift devices generally use hydraulic systems or the like to move loading platforms straight up and down. With such conventional lift devices, it is necessary for a person to move the objects between the loading platform and the high surface. Furthermore, crane systems are capable only of reducing human labor, and cannot be expected to greatly reduce the time required for loading and unloading; nor are these systems suitable for firefighting and the like, where speed is vital.
Lift devices have been developed and put into practical use, wherein a long carrier on which various objects are loaded is lowered at an inclination from a high surface, such as the top of a vehicle, by swinging a swing arm up and down (for example, see JP-3380199-B and JP-2004-182363-A).
However, while the lift device described in JP-3380199-B is advantageous in that it can be applied to firefighting vehicles and rescue ladders and the like, in that it can easily and rapidly be loaded and unloaded without a person having to go up to the top of the vehicle to do so, in cases where, in order to accommodate a long load or the like, the carrier has to be long, there must be a corresponding increase in the designed length of the swing arm (which corresponds to the drive boom in the present invention). This presents a problem in that the swing radius of the swing arm increases so that, when working in an enclosed space having a low ceiling or beneath overhead wires, the swing arm or the top of the carrier may collide with obstacles such as ceilings or overhead wires when the swing arm is swung.
With respect to this problem, in JP-2004-182363-A, problems such as those described above are solved by a constitution wherein the swing arm telescopes during the swing so that the length thereof is reduced when in the upright posture. But, the center of swing of the swing arm is on the top of the vehicle, and the swing arm only swings up and down on the top of the vehicle, so that even if the length of the swing arm is increased, if the carrier is short, it is not possible for that carrier to hold long objects. Further, if the vehicle is high, with respect to the length of the carrier, it is not possible to lower the carrier to a position at which objects can be removed.
The present invention was created in an attempt to overcome the situation described above, and hence an object thereof is to provide a novel lift device and a vehicle equipped with the same, capable of suitably lowering objects placed in a high position to a lower position which can be reached by people.